SIMONS AND CHABRIS Flashcards
Aim
To find out if particularly unusual effects would be more likely to be seen
To test level of difficulty of focused task and whether it would increase the rate of inattentional blindness
Sample ?
192 ‘observers’ .almost all of whom were undergrad students at Harvard uni
Some received payment
Method ?
4 video tapes shown. Each lasted approx 75 secs. Each vid showed 2 teams each made up of 3 players. Teams passed a standard basketball using aerial and bounce passes. Between 44&48 secs in to video, the unexpected event happened, umbrella of gorilla
What was rhe transparent video condition
Here the black team white team and unexpected event were all filmed separately , them videos were superimposed on each other Ina way that each character seemed transparent
What was the procedure ?
Ps tested individually . Informed the task would consist of watching clips of a basketball players and asked to either focus on the white or black teams same count the number of passes
What was the easy task
Count how many passes
What was the hard task
Keep ,metal note of aerial passes and bounce passes
Results
56% noticed the unexpected event . In transparent condition only 46% noticed it and in opaque 67% did. As difficulty increased, likelihood of inattentional blindness increased
Conclusion ?
Study showed that objects can pass through our central field of vision & still not be seen if not specifically attended to
Ethics ?
Informed consent and ps debriefed and briefed
Validity ?
Highly controlled lab experiment standardised procedure and apparatus
However ps knew they were Ina study which may have affected outcome of the study
Might’ve seen video clip before
How does is link to freewill and determinism
We make the assumption that we act according to our own free will on the evidence of our own eyes, yet this study demonstrates that our attentional processes can influence as such that we fail to see something in our centre of vision for5 secs
